One of the things that I really like about Alaska Airlines is the number or partner airlines that you can earn and burn miles with. If Alaska can’t get you to your destination, one or more of their partners can. Alaska partners with the Oneworld alliance:
In addition to the Oneworld partners, the airline maintains a unique group of other airlines in the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan:
What has always annoyed me about Alaska Airlines is its weak IT department. Many tasks that customers can do on other airline websites have been impossible at Alaska Airlines. Members could book award travel at alaskaair.com with a few exceptions but to book a revenue ticket was not happening. Alaska has taken a giant step forward to allow booking revenue tickets on partner airlines.
The Ability To Book Partner Flights
Alaska is building a world-class, direct booking platform with access to a robust portfolio of domestic and global partners. Your hassle-free journey starts at alaskaair.com where tickets for flights can be purchased for travel onboard premium global carriers that include Air Tahiti Nui; Finnair; Iberia; Japan Airlines; Qantas; Qatar Airways; STARLUX Airlines, and more. You can buy tickets with our partners in all classes of service.
“The power of our oneworld and partner airlines is now fully accessible by our flyers who can book their overseas travel directly on our website,” said Andrew Harrison, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Alaska Airlines. “When you book at alaskaair.com, you earn elite qualifying miles for every mile flown, no change fees and triple miles for all purchases when using the Alaska Airlines credit card.”
Fly a mile, earn a mile with partner airlines:
Alaska Mileage Plan members earn 100% of the miles they fly on our partners when booked at alaskaair.com.** For overseas roundtrips that cover thousands of miles, that’s thousands of Mileage Plan miles earned. We’re the only U.S. airline that offers this level of loyalty to our members.
Earn valuable elite qualifying miles on partners when booking partner flights on alaskaair.com:
Mileage Plan members earn at least 100% of the miles flown as elite qualifying miles (EQMs) that apply toward elite status with us.** We have a faster path to becoming an elite flyer than other U.S. airlines. And status with us equals matching tier status within the oneworld alliance and all the benefits that come with it.
All flights purchased on alaskaair.com with the Alaska Airlines Visa credit card earn triple miles:
The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card offers triple miles on all ticket purchases at alaskaair.com including overseas flights on our partners. Every dollar spent is three miles earned when using our credit card to purchase all flights on our site.
Example Booking
You and three of your family members travel from San Francisco to Tokyo on our fellow oneworld member Japan Airlines.
You buy roundtrip tickets for $2,000 each on alaskaair.com using your Alaska credit card.
4 tickets x $2,000 apiece x 3 miles per dollar spent = 24,000 total Mileage Plan miles earned.
Plus, if miles flown on the Japan Airlines flight are credited to your Alaska account, those are additional miles earned – one mile for every mile flown.
That’s more than 10,000 miles for each person roundtrip! You can earn even more miles both elite qualifying miles and redeemable miles by booking a higher fare code:
Other Benefits From Partner Booking
No change fees. Ever:
There are no change or cancellation fees when booking with us. And that includes partner flights.**
Buying tickets with our partners on alaskaair.com is simple:
Many of Alaska’s customers know its website, and most already have a Mileage Plan account with their profile information and payment details stored. This also includes Known Traveler Numbers (KTN) so your PreCheck will print out on all boarding passes. That information is ready to use when purchasing overseas travel with our global partners. Plus, you can see all your trips in one place.
** Saver or basic economy tickets are excluded. Effective for flights on or after Jan. 1, 2024, Mileage Plan members who book on alaskaair.com earn 100% of the miles they fly on our partners. These miles are elite qualifying miles (EQMs) that apply toward elite status with us.
Trust But Verify
On the surface, this sounds like a big win for customers of Alaska Airlines. I do have some doubts about pricing based on recent experience. Shelly and I wanted to fly first class from our home airport of Portland OR (PDX) to Barbados (BGI) in the southern Caribbean. We really wanted to fly on Alaska to Miami (MIA) and pick up American for the flight to Barbados. The cost on Alaska’s website for this codeshare flight was much higher than just booking with American Airlines for the entire PDX to BGI trip. Even though we flew the entire trip on American Airlines, we still earned the same miles for the same fare class as if Alaska flew the entire distance.
You may want to try booking your partner flight at alasaair.com but I would recommend checking to see if you got the best value.
Final Thoughts
I have always been frustrated with the lack of features and reliability from the IT Department at Alaska Airlines. This is a big step forward for them as was integrating into the Oneworld alliance. Hopefully, this will work well and it will make life easier for those who fly Alaska Airlines. I would do some research to verify if the alaskaair.com booking is the best deal for you.
